Continuity mistake: In the end when the Kothoga is on fire and chasing Margo, it catches up to her in moments. However, everytime it dramatically changes angles, the Kothoga appears a lot futher away than it was previously, but soon after catching up once again. Noting her progress in the room, this situation is not simply replaying the same scene from different angles. Plus when she gets to the water tank, she has plenty of time to spare to hit a lever, climb the device, and jump in before the Kothoga looms overhead.
The Relic (1997)
Directed by: Peter Hyams
Starring: Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, Linda Hunt, James Whitmore
Plot hole: What happened to the two boys who stayed in the museum past closing, after the homeless guy seemed to attack (or at least be seen to be stalking) them? The next time we see them, it's the next morning, and they're fine. So where did they go? Who helped them? What happened to the homeless guy? The boys couldn't have just hidden, as the homeless guy has been in the museum for ages, and these two boys just got there that day. The homeless guy would have known all the nooks and crannies and every little hiding spot available; he would have caught them.
Factual error: When the beast itself moves, it bounds, but the sound effects make it sound as though the beast is running.
Trivia: Producers Gale Anne Hurd and Sam Mercer wanted to film the movie at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. However, the museum's administration was afraid that the film would not only cast the museum in an unflattering light, but it would also scare kids away from the museum. They were given permission by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago to film there, because they loved the movie's premise.
Trivia: The Kathoga has only five minutes of screen time in the entire film.
Question: How big is the Kothoga? In some scenes, the Kothoga is about the size of a tiger but in other scenes, it's almost the size of a horse. During the Kothoga's attack during the Supernatural exhibit, it is seen chasing a SWAT officer and it's very huge but in another scene, when it crashes through a skylight and lands in front of some computers, it's not very large.
Question: Why didn't the Kothoga kill the German Shepherd dog in the sewers? It killed the other one, but spares this one, despite killing its handler.
Answer: More then likely, the dog was too afraid of the Kothoga to attack it and when the Kothoga saw this, it let the dog live. The other dog was probably unafraid and tried to attack the Kothoga which prompted it to kill the dog; not out of self-defense, but, because there were still people trapped in the museum and the dog was impeding his attack.
Answer: The beast needed human brain cells to survive, not animal cells, it ignored the dog because it wasn't important. After it killed the first one, it knew his canine brain cells would not work.
Answer: It's possible that the human side of the Kothoga, John Whitney emerged and seeing that the dog was afraid decided to let it live feeling pity for it.
Question: Why was the relic being shipped to the Field Museum in Chicago via boat? What would be the point of sending the relic to the United States and then placing it on a boat and shipping it to Chicago by way of the Illinois River? In the book, the museum is instead located in New York, so it makes sense for the shipment to arrive by boat from South America, but there would be no possible way to get to Chicago straight from South America by boat, so the relic had to have been on land at one point. Placing it on a boat just seems like a contrived way to have the monster kill the crew members and create a mystery for the police as to how it happened.
Chosen answer: Cost of shipping would be much cheaper. However, the Mississippi River System is connected to the Illinois Waterway, which continues to the Great Lakes Waterway. This means Chicago is connected to the Gulf of Mexico (which is accessible to South America). There would be no need to ever be on the road.
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Answer: While the size is never explicitly stated, the creature does seem to be somewhat larger than a tiger and approaching the size of a horse when the scene needs it to be. Perhaps its size changes as it eats and needs sustenance?
Erik M.